The Lake County
owner of an ambulance service has been charged in federal court with
healthcare fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
Indiana said.

Basil N. Ubanwa,
60, of Crown Point was indicted by federal grand jury on 11 counts of
healthcare fraud and one of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office said.

“The indictment
alleges that between 2011 and 2018, Ubanwa executed a scheme to obtain
hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare
and Medicaid for ambulance services,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “From
2007 to 2018, Ubanwa was the owner and manager of Northwest Ambulance
Services, located in Crown Point, Ind. Northwest’s primary source of revenue
was transporting patients to and from kidney dialysis appointments.
According to the indictment, Ubanwa and others directed Northwest employees
to transport patients by ambulance who did not qualify for ambulance
transportation and who were not eligible to receive such services. Northwest
employees were instructed by Ubanwa and others to bill Medicare and Medicaid
for services that were not medically necessary and/or were not provided.”

The government is
seeking criminal forfeiture of the proceeds of the alleged crimes including,
but not limited to, the over $1.9 million from bank accounts associated with
Northwest Ambulance and Ubanwa that are listed in the forfeiture count of
the indictment.

“Health care fraud
is a serious crime that drives up the cost of healthcare for all honest
Americans,” U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch said. “Medicare and Medicaid are not
bottomless funds from which theft goes unnoticed or unpunished. Taxpayers
are the victims of these crimes. We, with our law enforcement partners, will
continue to investigate and aggressively prosecute perpetrators of these
fraudulent schemes.”